pics of our "new home"

All of the animals are within walking distance or we can see them from our windows. It's the perfect balance, we can see the animals, but can't smell them and don't have to take care of them.

busy busy

We've all been busy busy busy.

So very busy.

Sophie too.

There are cows and a playground just steps from our front door. Sophie's already become inured to the cows (they're always there and we won't let her climb the fence and who wants to just look?), but the playground is quite popular.

She's also got a little pink broom and dustpan, which she just loves. The little girl next door thinks it's pretty cool too.

Sophie does get upset that her dustpan won't attach to the broom handle like the big dustpan and broom. I tell her that it's not set up to work like that.

"Why?" she asks, "Why, daddy?"

bonjour, cows

We're getting ready to move. For the last two nights, every time Sophie wakes up, a bit more of the house is packed away.

The idea of moving fascinates Sophie. She's been telling people at school for weeks now. Little does she realize that moving requires driving: she's going to be spending the next 10 hrs in a car seat over the next two days.

But she knows the payoff: cows!!

She can't wait to see the cows. I couldn't have imagined her being so excited to live next to cows and, honestly, I never imagined myself living next to cows, but here we go. At least they are the pretty dairy kind, and not the ugly beef kind.

hop on rock

On the way back from a parade, we came across this amazing rock. It just demanded to be jumped on and apparently vogued on.

Mischievous

It's nap time.

Instead of taking a nap, Sophie defies us by . . . quietly playing in her room!

That sly, sly dog!

When I open the door, she looks excruciatingly guilty, as if she'd just been caught embezzling from the church's widows and orphans fund. She scurries back to her bed and tries to look as if she'd always been there.

I give her some milk, tuck her in, kiss her on the cheek, and slowly shut the door.

Possessives

Strange things are afoot.

Friday, she came home from daycare to find the garage door open and her changing table and diaper genie in the driveway.

"Dis open, Daddy!" she said.

And after a pause: "Dis meins!"

Later there was a certain amount of separation anxiety as her mother conducted a financial transaction.

I had to take her inside. Luckily she's easily distracted by seaweed.

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In other news, her mother and I reckon she's more or less potty-trained now.

W-lulu, X, Y and Z

Sophie sings the ABCs

sophie at the river

After our road trip back from Indianapolis, we went down to the river to stretch our legs and play in the water. Sophie Tegel seems like she's right in her element.

Indianapolis Zoo

We had an awesome day last Friday at the Indianapolis Zoo. The zoo is amazingly well designed because it includes, besides the typical animals, a splash pad, playground and kids rides. This is Sophie's fourth zoo. In the past, she's only shown much interest in the first few animals, but it was clear that this time she really enjoyed herself beyond words, literally running from animal to animal. We took a pause from the animals for about an hour to play in the splash pad--what a great idea by the park's developers. After she dried off, she rode a carousel a couple of times, rode a pony--on her own--, and took a train ride around the zoo. The highlight, however, was watching the dolphin show. She shook and screamed in delight as the dolphins jumped around, her delight was as fun to watch as the dolphins. We all went home and took a nice long nap. Next zoo stop: the National Zoo in Washington DC.

Sophie hitting a piñata

Giving a two year old a stick isn´t a very great idea. I knew that the moment this started, but it´s practically impossible to tell a kid she can´t play while the others hit at the piñata. Once the candy came out, she really didn´t get that she was supposed to go after it.

playing time-out with momo

I'm glad we don't spank her! In some very uncanny ways, she has the mechanics of time-out down, but she still needs some practice.

what does it mean to move?

Trying to explain a concept to a young child is much harder than explaining an object. The concept of moving to a new house is a bit tricky. And perhaps its hardest for the parents who are never quite sure how "tramatic" the move will be. At this point, while I worry, I probably shouldn't. By every measure, ST seems excited to move. As she has it figured out, at our new home, there will be 1. cows, 2. horses (with barns), and 3. a room for her friend who recently moved away. Well, yes, there will be cows and maybe horses and we will actually live quite close to at least one barn. However, I'm concerned that she'll be sad when she sees that her friend who just moved to California doesn't have a room in her house. Although I repeat this fact to her over and over, I'm not sure how much she's understanding. Maybe she thinks that everybody moves to the same place. That would sort of make sense.